To be noticing what was going on a decade ago - as Cathy so astutely was - was to be gaslight, called a cuck or leftist shill, told it wasn’t happening or that you were making it up, or that the “other side” was the problem (even if you were or shy about covering other forms of extremism).
It’s crazy that this has ended up going so far. Crazy, but entirely predictable.
The good news is that all of this points to the MAGA movement imploding after the death of Donald J. Trump. There are too many competing and conflicting subgroups that makes the political coalition powerful. Whether Trump (or the Republican Party for that matter) are actually racists or Jew-haters is not important--- what is important is that racists and Jew-haters THINK they might be racists and Jew-haters. Or at least provide a space for them to participate in the most important political principle unifying them all---marginalizing the Democratic Party and "Owning the Libs." So far the Republican Party has been willing to accommodate that participation.
The bad news is that the Heritage Foundation has permanently altered the structure of our government and it is highly unlikely, given the way our constitutional republic is formed, that there will be a political force powerful enough to undo the restructuring. Just like the unlikely that the Trump Ballroom at Mar-a-Lago DC will ever be torn down.
I don't think groups like the Groypers are some kind of rot, they’re the logical conclusion of religious conservative ideas when taken seriously. It was almost funny watching the Heritage Foundation staff lecture Kevin Roberts on camera while still trying to spin the situation as somehow the fault of “the Left.” Nope. The Heritage Foundation, just like the hopeless Ben Shapiro types, is going to be consumed by the very monsters they helped create. If anything, it's these "moderates" that represent the true rot. They have no idea what they are doing and have paved the way for true authoritarians who actually take the same ideas seriously.
Ultimately, religious conservatism, just like socialism, is a terrible set of ideas that’s disastrous for human life and needs to be opposed as a matter of principle. But that’s only half the battle. The other half is knowing what to advocate as an alternative: the rational and secular values of individual rights and a rights-protecting government (in politics), which means capitalism (in economics).
As far as I can see, no one in the mainstream is advocating for this. MAGA and socialism simply have no opposition.
The problem is that too many of the principled Republicans who saw the problem a decade ago are no longer part of the party. We begged the GOP to put its foot down. When they didn't, we fled.
Only 10?
To be noticing what was going on a decade ago - as Cathy so astutely was - was to be gaslight, called a cuck or leftist shill, told it wasn’t happening or that you were making it up, or that the “other side” was the problem (even if you were or shy about covering other forms of extremism).
It’s crazy that this has ended up going so far. Crazy, but entirely predictable.
The good news is that all of this points to the MAGA movement imploding after the death of Donald J. Trump. There are too many competing and conflicting subgroups that makes the political coalition powerful. Whether Trump (or the Republican Party for that matter) are actually racists or Jew-haters is not important--- what is important is that racists and Jew-haters THINK they might be racists and Jew-haters. Or at least provide a space for them to participate in the most important political principle unifying them all---marginalizing the Democratic Party and "Owning the Libs." So far the Republican Party has been willing to accommodate that participation.
The bad news is that the Heritage Foundation has permanently altered the structure of our government and it is highly unlikely, given the way our constitutional republic is formed, that there will be a political force powerful enough to undo the restructuring. Just like the unlikely that the Trump Ballroom at Mar-a-Lago DC will ever be torn down.
I don't think groups like the Groypers are some kind of rot, they’re the logical conclusion of religious conservative ideas when taken seriously. It was almost funny watching the Heritage Foundation staff lecture Kevin Roberts on camera while still trying to spin the situation as somehow the fault of “the Left.” Nope. The Heritage Foundation, just like the hopeless Ben Shapiro types, is going to be consumed by the very monsters they helped create. If anything, it's these "moderates" that represent the true rot. They have no idea what they are doing and have paved the way for true authoritarians who actually take the same ideas seriously.
Ultimately, religious conservatism, just like socialism, is a terrible set of ideas that’s disastrous for human life and needs to be opposed as a matter of principle. But that’s only half the battle. The other half is knowing what to advocate as an alternative: the rational and secular values of individual rights and a rights-protecting government (in politics), which means capitalism (in economics).
As far as I can see, no one in the mainstream is advocating for this. MAGA and socialism simply have no opposition.
Golly ! I'm stunned and amazed. 🙄
The problem is that too many of the principled Republicans who saw the problem a decade ago are no longer part of the party. We begged the GOP to put its foot down. When they didn't, we fled.
https://open.substack.com/pub/paulszydlowski/p/the-ugly-underbelly-and-the-right-16-09-14?r=1ea9qb&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
Good move.